Historical Society of Windham County

The new COUNTY JAIL MUSEUM: This newest program service is located just steps from HSWC's West River Railroad Museum and County Museum at the heart of Newfane Village. It is planned to be open in spring 2025 and admission will be free of charge. The new Museum will interpret the history of the Windham County Jail and offer additional exhibitions telling the stories of the people of Windham County. It will offer long-awaited additional space to showcase more of HSWC's collections and to interpret the history of the people and towns of Windham County.

Educational Outreach services including archives and exhibits, a newsletter sent out three times a year, organizational website wwwhistoricalsocietyofwindhamcoun... and educational events and programs.

The County Museum of the HSWC: It is located on Rte 30 (Main Street) in Newfane, VT. It is staffed part-time by a salaried Curator and an Associate Curator and is open to the public free of charge three afternoons a week (from 12 to 5 on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays) from late May through mid-October. The County Museum serves as a repository for the HSWC's significant collections of historic objects and archives relating to Windham County, Vermont. The public is invited to use museum resources for personal research on regularly open days or by appointment. The Museum offers genealogy research services. The Museum includes a mini-museum store where mission-related items such as postcards, notecards, pictures, and publications focused on Windham County history are made available for purchase. Profits from these sales, as well as from donations left by visitors, support the museum's operations. The County Museum is a primary educational resource for students, educators, researchers and the general public. The Society's archives include materials dating from the 17th-21st centuries. Books, journals, photographs, maps scrapbooks, documents and other primary resources are available to the public for personal and professional research, with research assistance provided. The County Museum houses an invaluable collection of close to 10,000 artifacts and archival materials relating to Windham County. The Museum's two floors of exhibition space display impressive examples of early Vermont furniture, folk art, early portraits, agricultural tools, military equipment and Civil War artifacts. Clothing and textiles, children's toys, paintings and photographs all tell stories of Windham County's history. Local favorites are the Newfane General Store exhibit, the Porter Thayer Photography exhibit and the story of the infamous highwayman "Thunderbolt." They also preserve an extensive collection of artifacts and documents relating to the history of the West River Railroad. In the future it will become the HSWC Research and Genealogy Center.

THE WEST RIVER RAILROAD MUSEUM: The HSWC extended its scope in the Fall of 2014, when it purchased the old 1880 Newfane Railroad Station and its Water Tank House. The Society saved the buildings, including what is thought to be the last surviving Water Tank House in the State, from total deterioration. The West River Railroad Museum opened to the public in 2017 after undergoing three years of restoration work. For this achievement, the Vermont Historical Society awarded HSWC an "Award of Excellence in Historic Preservation". The Museum, staffed by volunteer docents, is open to the public free of charge, 12-4 PM, on weekends from late May through mid-October. It offers young and old alike tours of the two restored buildings, as well as the opportunity for rides on the old tracks on a manually-operated railroad hand cart. HSWC possesses an extensive collection of artifacts, photographs, manuscripts and oral histories related to the West River Railroad. The restored station and its exhibits provide a visual and accessible presentation and an interdisciplinary learning experience examining Windham County from the late 19th century leading up to World War II. The widespread appeal of trains and the lure of the railroad offers an evocative teaching tool for educators and parents. The Railroad Museum contains a mini-museum store where visitors can purchase souvenirs, postcards, photos, notecards, and publications about the West River Railroad and its history. The HSWC has been instrumental in bringing about the publication of several of these books and pamphlets including "36 Miles of Trouble", "The Diary of J.J. Green" Stationmaster and "A Chronology of the West River Railroad." The Railroad Station Museum is a short walk from the Historical Society's County Museum in the heart of Newfane Village, Vermont.

Mini-Museum Stores: Located in the two current museums which sell mission-related items such as postcards, notecards, photos, and publications. Profits benefit museum programs.